Why players like Tracy McGrady don’t get it

This is not about statistics. This is not about play style or comparisons. This is about psychoanalysis. *Yawn* right? No, I’m not going to sit you down on some couch and listen to you lament about regrets on sexual games you haven’t explored with a significant other or some petty crap about your desires to sniff Sharpies while wearing your sister’s clothes. No, I’m not going to do that. Gross. I’m not Sigmund Freud. Rather this is a breakdown of the mind of certain players such as Tracy McGrady. Some might call it “Allen Iverson territory.” I call it “the Rick Astley Syndrome.”

Brought to you by the makers of the Nick Anderson disease (missing crucial free throws and not recovering ever again), Rick Astley was a huge music artist during the 1980s. He “Rick Roll’d” the entire Internet a couple of years ago with the smashing hit “Never Gonna Give You Up.” Many people thought he was a black man with that voice, but when we saw the music video, he looked like Archie. These star players, or fading stars, are never going to give it up. Give what up? Give up the notion that he is still a great player.

The Chicago Bulls once chased Tracy McGrady back in 2000. The Bulls waited for his decision until the last minute when he decided on Orlando. He handcuffed Chicago during that free agency period from locking down other players because McGrady went silent until the end. T-Mac was a rising star to the point where he was arguably better than Kobe Bryant when averaged 32 points per game in 2002. McGrady went to Houston and flourished, but never escaped past the first round of the playoffs earning the label, “Second Round Virgin.” Many injuries later, he took his talents to the New York Knicks.

Nothing became of the Mecca experience. T-Mac is not the same explosive player he once was yet in his mind somewhere, he believes that he can be near that deadly level.

He worked out for the Chicago Bulls in late July 2010. After the workout, McGrady openly stated that he can be a major player for the team. He wasn’t interested in being a role player and addressed the media as if he was a Bull even when they did not offer him a contract. The statements that he made cost him a spot. The Bulls wanted T-Mac to be a role player off the bench only. McGrady thought otherwise. Some in his entourage probably murmured that he just did not get it.

Tracy McGrady is not the only one guilty of this mindset. Others such as Allen Iverson, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, and Magic Johnson had this Rick Astley Syndrome. They’re never going to give the ego up. Here’s why with some help from Sam Gosling’s Mixed Signals:

-Personal spots – This stuff is known only by them; their weaknesses and strengths. They know what they’re good and bad at. They will NEVER admit these things to anyone even their families or first born. Summed up in one word: DENIAL!

-Self-rating – This sucks because they end up overrating themselves. It’s pointless and stupid.

-Blind spots – Stuff only known by others such as level of hostility, intelligence, and level of emo. They can’t see these things about themselves. Hence, blind.

-Spotlight effect – Simply known as BIAS. The media, fans, and entourage gave them verbal blow jobs for years being in the spotlight. They overestimate themselves.

-Perceptions clashing – All the spots and effects collide. I call this the RUDE AWAKENING. It’s difficult for them to take it all in and view themselves as they really are. Lack of information contributes to this as well.

To the point – Add all this up. They’re never gonna give it up. Never gonna let you down….We’re guilty of this stuff, too. NBA fading stars, such as Tracy McGrady and Allen Iverson, cannot let go when father time is trickling in. The Rick Astley Syndrome can be avoided if one can shut the hell up and stay humble. When a person can do that, that’s when that person (finally!) gets “it.”